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I’m Just Gonna Ask: Why Was Square Enix At The Meeting?

Ben-Dutka 41 Comments

We first saw Square Enix's impressive Agni's Philosophy tech demo last June, during E3. Yes, a while ago.

…and Square Enix popped up long enough at the PlayStation Meeting this past week to show us the exact same footage. They also reminded us that a Final Fantasy announcement is coming at this year's E3.

I'm sorry, but someone just has to ask: What the hell were you even doing there, S-E? Why would you show up at the announcement of a new console to display a tech demo just about everyone saw over eight months ago? Just because the PS4 might be capable of producing those visuals? So ? I get the whole "announcement for an announcement" thing – i.e., "stay tuned for something we'll tell you later!" – but that was the wrong venue. You don't step onto that stage unless you've something new to show us. Or at the very least, you have to tell us something new. Anything at all.

As far as we know, "Agni's Philosophy" doesn't mean anything. It's not necessarily a new game; it's merely a tech demo. And the new FF news could just be more blather about Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII . Either that, or they'll actually announce Final Fantasy XV at E3, and it'll look like that tech demo and be released for the PS4. That's all very well and good. It still doesn't explain why Square Enix was at that Meeting. I cannot fathom why Sony even let them on the stage. It would be almost understandable if Final Fantasy was still exclusive to PlayStation but of course, that's not true any longer. And there's no chance it'll go back to being exclusive. That won't happen in a million years.

So I guess I just don't get it. Other developers, like Quantic Dream and Capcom, showed off tech demos, too. But they sure as hell didn't show us stuff we'd seen before, and they actually had new information to reveal. Square Enix just looked so pathetically out of place up there. Weird.

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Will Final Fantasy XV Look Like Agni’s Philosophy Tech Demo?

Ben-Dutka 33 Comments

So everyone is talking about Square Enix's uber-slick new tech demo that was on display at E3. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out below.

The publisher sent out a press release as well, describing this presentation as a "real time technical demonstration movie that utilizes cutting edge game development technology." It was produced with Luminous Studio, Square Enix's game production environment engine "currently in development internally."

That should sort of indicate that future projects will use this technology, correct? And with the rumor being debunked that Final Fantasy Versus XIII has become Final Fantasy XV , we can probably assume we've never seen FFXV. And perhaps most importantly, the press release states that Agni's Philosophy "was created through the lens of the Final Fantasy series." …so draw your own conclusions.